Mueller reportedly has evidence that a a Trump associate met with a Kremlin ally in early 2017 to create a secret Trump-Russia backchannel

A witness in the Russia investigation has testified
that Trump associate Erik Prince helped arrange a 2017 meeting
in the Seychelles islands with a Kremlin ally as part of an
effort to establish a backchannel of communication between the
US and Russia, and to discuss US-Russia relations under the
Trump administration.

The revelation appears to contradict Prince's testimony
before the House Intelligence Committee last year, when he told
the panel his meeting with the Kremlin ally, Russian investor
Kirill Dmitriev, happened by chance.

The unnamed witness' testimony also comes amid reports
that George Nader, an adviser to the Emirati crown prince who
attended the Seychelles meeting on behalf of the United Arab
Emirates, is cooperating with Mueller and testified before a
grand jury earlier this year.

The special counsel Robert Mueller has learned from a witness
that a 2017 meeting in the Seychelles islands between an
associate of President Donald Trump and a top Kremlin ally was
arranged in order to establish a backchannel of communication
between the US and Russia, The Washington Post reported
Wednesday.

Mueller is investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 US
election, including whether members of Trump's campaign colluded
with Moscow to tilt the race in his favor.

The meeting in question was between Blackwater founder Erik
Prince and Russian investor Kirill Dmitriev. George Nader, a
Middle East expert and an adviser to the United Arab Emirates'
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, was also in attendance as the
crown prince's representative.

Nader testified before a grand jury about the meeting earlier
this year, and according to The Post, a witness told Mueller that
the Seychelles meeting was set up in advance to discuss US-Russia
relations. The testimony appears to contradict Prince's account
of the meeting before the House Intelligence Committee last year,
when he told the panel that it had occurred by chance.

Prince reportedly approached Crown Prince Mohammed, with whom he
has a long business relationship, following a December 2016
meeting between the prince and senior adviser Jared Kushner,
former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, and former
national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Prince told the Emirati crown prince he was authorized to act as
an unofficial surrogate for Trump, and then asked whether Crown
Prince Mohammed could set up a meeting with Dmitriev, who heads a
sanctioned Russian investment fund and is closely allied with
Russian President Vladimir Putin.

While Nader attended the Seychelles meeting, which took
place on January 11, 2017, as Crown Prince Mohammed's
representative, Emirati officials believed Prince represented the
Trump team and that Dmitriev represented Putin.

Prince told the House Intelligence Committee last year that he
knew Dmitriev was a Russian fund manager but did not know it was
a sanctioned fund that was controlled by the Russian government.

Prince also denied that he attended the meeting as an official
representative of the incoming administration, saying instead
that he traveled to the Seychelles to meet with potential
business customers from the UAE.

Prince resides in the UAE and has been associated with Nader for
over a decade. It is unclear why, if he was interacting with
potential Emirati customers, he had to travel to the Seychelles
to meet them.

During the meeting, Prince told lawmakers on the House
Intelligence Committee, the customers "mentioned a guy who I
should also meet who was also in town," who turned out to be
Dmitriev.

"At the end, one of the entourage says, 'Hey, by the way,
there's this Russian guy that we've dealt with in the past. He's
here also to see someone from the Emirati delegation. And you
should meet him, he'd be an interesting guy for you to know,
since you're doing a lot in the oil and gas and mineral space,'"
Prince told lawmakers.

When he met Dmitriev, they discussed a range of topics, and
Dmitriev stressed that he wished Russia and the US could resume
normal trade relations, Prince said. He added that they spoke for
no more than 30 minutes.

After the Seychelles meeting, Dmitriev also met with Anthony
Scaramucci, who would later become the White House communications
director, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Russian state media quoted Scaramucci as saying, after his
meeting with Dmitriev, that the Obama administration's new
sanctions on Russia - which were imposed that month to penalize
it for interfering in the 2016 election - were ineffective and
detrimental to the US-Russia relationship.

One month before Prince met with Dmitriev, Kushner also
reportedly proposed a secret back-channel of communication
between the Trump team and Moscow using Russian facilities.